The EIU view

The new centre-right government, headed by New Unity (JV), took office in January 2019, following a lengthy negotiation period after the election in October 2018. Although the five-party coalition has had a rocky start, we expect it to last a full term to 2022. It will remain committed to pro-European and fiscally conservative policies. Economic momentum remains strong; we forecast that real GDP growth will average 3.3% in 2019 and pick up to 3.6% on average in 2020-23.

Schooling only in Latvian
The amendments prohibiting the use of Russian in schools will be supported by ethnic Latvians and may strengthen the ruling coalition, but it will lead to protests and attract Russian ire.

Temperate, with more extreme fluctuations inland; average temperatures, 20°C in summer, -5°C in winter

LANGUAGES:

Latvian, also known as Lettish (a member of the Indo-European language family), is the state language and the first language of about 62% of the population. For about 36% of the population, Russian is the main language of communication